Don Giovanni Essay

Don Giovanni tells the story of a sexually promiscuous and arrogant man who mistreats and enrages everyone he comes into contact with until he comes across an entity that cannot outwit or kill. The opera opens with Don Giovanni inside the Commendatore’s house to seduce his daughter, Donna Anna, and in the process she cries for help summoning the Commendatore. The two begin a duel ending with Giovanni killing the Commendatore and Giovanni escaping with his servant Leporello. Upon the discovery of her father’s murder, Anna makes her finance Don Octavio swear vengeance against the killer, unknown to be Don Giovanni. Later Giovanni and Leporello have returned to Giovanni’s home where they encounter Donna Elvira, a former lover of Giovanni’s, Giovanni …show more content…
First is his choice of when he uses recitative and aria for both of the characters. Whenever Leporello or Don Giovanni talk to one another they speak in recitative, however when they address the Statue they sing in an aria style. This is particularly effective because it shows that when they do speak to the statue they are trying to appease to its likings by singing in such a sweet manner, as opposed to when they aren’t trying to appease one another. Mozart uses the pedal point to show an appeal to reason or needing something from another character. For example when Giovanni threatens to kill Leporello if he doesn't invite the statue to dinner, Mozart fills this section with pedal F# and dominants as a representation of Leporello hoping to reason with Giovanni. Later when Giovanni himself demand an answer from the statue Mozart fills the base with pedal C and augmented sixth chords that reinforce his demand for an answer, or a resolution. Mozart also shows Leporello’s panic at his life when he has him exclaim “attendete” on E#, a half step away from the key of the passage. At the first notice of the statue moving his head, mozart uses a E minor chord to show the spookiness of what is being seen in the graveyard. To emphasize the character’s focus on the head nod, Mozart even included a gesture on “O cidl” to even have the gesture in music and not just the text. For most of the piece both Giovanni and Leporello sing at different times, but when Giovanni finally sees the head move himself the two sing homo-rhythmically, showing their mutually agreement on what they have just witnessed. Mozart then immediately breaks this agreement, by having them still singing together but now their lines move in opposite directions of one another, which displays their opposing thoughts. Leporello, begging for his master to just run away and Giovanni wanting